Tonight’s episode of “V” cranked up the level of spirituality and religious themes. Although hints of Anna being viewed as like a god were raised in the last episode, tonight’s showed what might well be a realistic response to the arrival of aliens who demonstrated an ability to heal otherwise incurable human illnesses and injuries. After all, isn’t that a major theme in the Biblical tradition, in particular the New Testament? That the healing power of God is demonstrated through God’s... Read more

As fans try to cope with this Tuesday without LOST, here is an account by Nikki Stafford of the things that run through LOST fans minds’ as they sit in church… Read more

For those following “boobquake,” a humorous “test” of the connectedness or otherwise of immodest dress and earthquakes, it made it onto the Colbert Report. The whole thing started with a student named Jen McCreight right here in Indiana. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Boobquake Day Causes Earthquake www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News Read more

Last night I watched the movie A Serious Man, which I must confess is the first Coen brothers film I’ve seen. It is powerful in its subtlety. The movie was recommended to me as a sort of “modern retelling of Job,” but in a sense it has many inversions of the Job narrative, and is all the more thought-provoking as a result. My favorite moments were the following. First, when Arthur complains to his brother Larry that God hasn’t given him... Read more

“By inviting Glenn Beck, Liberty University is proving once again that they value their identity as Americans (at least, their definition of what a “real” American is) more than their identity as Christians. The fact that Beck shares their political orientation trumps the fact that they think he is going to hell because of his religion…Say what you want about them, but at least they’re being clear on what is most important to them. The neo-conservative vision of America comes... Read more

I’ll be teaching a class on the Book of Revelation next semester, and need to make a decision about the textbook soon. I’d like to use a one-volume commentary that doesn’t require knowledge of Greek. I had a good experience with Andrew Lincoln’s commentary on the Gospel of John this semester, and so I’m thinking about using Ben Witherington’s commentary on Revelation in the same series. Are there any other recent commentaries on Revelation that fit the criteria I mentioned,... Read more

There’s a double-attempt at lame humor in the title of this post. But I do have a serious question. I’m gearing up to spend this summer working on the Mandaean Book of John, and I had a question come to mind as I was thinking about the figure of Ptahil. This name is clearly connected with the Egyptian god Ptah. (Mandaean figures regularly have the -il ending, equivalent of -el endings in Hebrew, and these are often added to otherwise... Read more

Jonathan Robinson has a review of my book The Only True God on his blog ξἐνος. Read more

There is plenty in Leviticus that Christians and even many Jews today not only do not observe, but do not even feel the slightest tinge of guilt about not observing. Yet Leviticus gets quoted all the time by such people as an argument against homosexuality. I suspect that a good place to start discussing material in Leviticus is by asking why certain things are prohibited. Presumably most would agree that, if we cannot figure out why something was against the Levitical code,... Read more

Today in my Sunday school class we began our discussion of homosexuality. It immediately took an interesting turn, with one person suggesting that “gay activists” are trying to expose children at a young age to the idea of homosexuality, so that they will treat it as normal. An individual involved in education replied by pointing out that the aim is to have children treat other children in their class who may have gay or lesbian parents as normal rather than... Read more